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On Saturday night AA Radio supported the inaugural SLSQ Heli Ball. A black tie event to raise funds and awareness for the incredible life saving work of the Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service.

We were shown footage of the rescue of a father and his two sons (8 & 12 years old). They had been fishing when a freak wave had capsized their boat. They had life jackets and had activated their Epirb, but the fast moving current was taking them beyond the outer most limits of the helicopters fuel range before it would need to return to land. The father and the youngest son were starting to experience severe hypothermia.

After supporting his boys the best he could for hours in the freezing water, the father realised he could not go on much longer. He held his sons and started saying goodbye to them. It was at this moment when they heard ‘a noise in the sky’, looked up and saw the red and yellow helicopter. The rescue diver had already been deployed and was making his way toward them. Assessing the situation, the rescue diver winched the son suffering hypothermia first, then returned for the other son.

The first and foremost responsibility of the pilots in the Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service, is the safety of the crew. The pilot informed the crew that they had reached the critical point of fuel levels that required return to land. The pilot requested an unanimous decision be made by the crew based on the information provided. The rescue diver descended, without hesitation, toward the father as his fellow crewman informed the pilot, “they’re all going home today”.

As the helicopter made its way to land, the boys Mother was informed that her sons and her husband had been rescued. The closing footage from the cockpit shows the father turning around to check on his sons. The crewman sitting with the boys gave the father the thumbs up.

The crewman of the Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service are volunteers.